Rome enacts summer ban on snacks at tourist sites

July 17, 2008

ROME (AP) -- Don't chow, bella! At least not on the steps of Roman monuments. City Hall is banning all those enjoying a Roman holiday this summer from snacking near the sights in Rome's historical center with fines up to $80. Officials say they want to preserve artistic treasures and decorum in a city that has millions of visitors every year. The ordinance also bans the homeless from setting up makeshift beds and cracks down on drunks, litterbugs and nighttime revelers loitering in central areas. It says unless the situation is "kept under control" misbehaving visitors will "irreparably damage the preservation of historical and art areas and monuments and the possibility to enjoy them." The ban began this weekend and stays in effect until the end of October. Rome is the latest Italian city to take steps to protect its monuments and limit the effects of mass tourism. Venice banned picnics in public places and bare torsos in St. Mark's Square; Florence is clamping down on squeegee men who wash the windshields of idling cars and demand payment. Some tourists lamented that the Roman ban had not been posted and pointed out that there were viable alternatives for tourists who want to avoid the expensive cafes that tack on a surcharge for their outdoor tables. "You don't want to sit at that place," said Kristin Benner, pointing at one of the expensive cafes near the Pantheon. "And if you have signs, police and benches, isn't that taking away from the monuments more than drinking near them?" It's still unclear whether police in Rome will be able to enforce the anti-snack measure, given the abundance of artistic sites in the city and its summer influx of tourists. In the first five months this year, at least 7.6 million people visited Rome.